KIRKUS REVIEW

Dinsmoor (The Yoga Divas and Other Stories, 2010) recounts
his stint in rehab for alcoholism in this new memoir.

In 2011, the author, a 53-year-old yoga instructor and freelance
writer, checked himself in for a monthlong program of sobriety at the Wetlands
Rehabilitation Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Convinced that he needed to
quit drinking by a concerned cabal of friends and family, Dinsmoor was finally
willing to seek professional help to curb a habit that had grown worse over the
decades: “Time was when a six pack or a small bottle of wine would put me
under, but now it took about twice that.” Life in rehab bore a strange
resemblance to life back in elementary school: the center was segregated by
gender, patients were monitored around the clock, and petty grievances took on
inflated importance. Even a certain juvenile sense of humor arose: Dinsmoor
remembers how one rehab technician admonished her patients after discovering a
crude drawing of genitalia on a sign-in sheet: “From a distance, all I could
see was a squiggle, but I was pretty sure I knew what it was.”His
planned stay of 28 days ended up stretching to three months, and he recounts
his adventures along the road to recovery, including going into withdrawal when
he was taken off Ativan, accusing his roommate of secretly using cocaine, and having
to bunk with the most active drug dealer in the compound. Through it all, the
author tells his tale with an eye for the absurd and the humor of a man who
thinks he’s the only sane cuckoo in the nest. He’s a confident writer with a
practiced comic timing, and although his story isn’t particularly dramatic or
traumatic, it offers welcome insight into the rehabilitation industry and the
sorts of characters found therein. The most intriguing conclusion readers may
draw from his experience is that despite the fraternity of sponsors and support
groups, recovery is ultimately a solitary pursuit. As people fade in and out,
fall off the wagon, or disappear, one is reminded that the only person who can
keep a patient sober is the patient himself.

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